Four phones you may have missed from MWC

As MWC — the largest mobile trade show of the year — draws to a close, it's time to look back on some of the more obscure devices shown off in the halls of the Fira Barcelona Gran Via. You've probably already seen the polished and impressive Huawei Mate X, and maybe even 5G-capable second-screen toting LG V50, but here are four phones you might have missed.

Nubia Alpha: the least exciting folding phone

While other manufacturers are working on merging a smartphone and tablet into a foldable form factor, Chinese handset maker Nubia has taken a different approach and built a wearable smartphone. In other words it's a foldable phone you wear on your wrist, which nobody asked for but Nubia is hellbent on giving it to us anyway.

The Nubia Alpha looks like a huge watch, but it's actually a smartphone.

The Nubia Alpha has a long 4-inch flexible OLED display housed inside a large and chunky bracelet that looks downright comical when worn. The elongated aspect ratio means you will be scrolling a lot when using it as a smartphone. Typing up a text message using the tiny alphanumeric T9 dialer felt beyond tedious. Oh and did we mention that if you want to watch a video you'll literally have to stand with your arm lifted up at right angle?

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The Nubia Alpha is an example of a product that exists solely for the sake of being different and, while it succeeds on that front, it achieves little else.

Punkt MP02: a beautiful minimalist phone

With all the talk of 5G and foldables at the show, it's nice to cover a product that actually encourages you to spend less time on your smartphone. The MP02 from Swiss company Punkt does phone calls, text messages, alarms and little else.

There's no camera, no apps, no web browser, no distracting notifications forcing you to divert your attention away from the real world. The software is minimal to the point that the only time you'll ever see an image on its 2-inch 320x240 resolution transflective screen is when someone sends you a picture message.

The phone supports 4G for calls and can also act as an internet hotspot if you want to get online with a different device.

Energizer Power Max P18K: a phone with a 50-day battery life

Energizer's Power Max P18K is more battery than phone, clearly targeted towards those who desire battery life more than anything else.

At more than an inch thick, the Power Max is the antithesis to the modern smartphone, sacrificing a thin frame for all the battery. With a whopping 18,000mAh battery, which is more than five times the battery capacity of Samsung's Galaxy S10, Energizer claims that users will be able to make up to 90 hours of calls, watch two straight days of video or last up to 50 days in standby time on a single charge.

Aside from the bulk the P18K is similar to other Android phones, running the latest version of Google's software and sporting dual cameras on the back. It also has reverse wireless charging, to share some of its ample juice with other phones and devices.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G: the most affordable 5G phone

5G is set to push smartphone prices well beyond the $1500 mark, with LG confirming that its V50 5G smartphone will retail for $1999 when it hits Australia in June, and you can expect a similar price for Samsung's 5G variant of the Galaxy S10. No price is set for the Huawei Mate X but it could go as high as $4000.

Xiaomi's Mi Mix 3 5G bucks that trend by offering a flagship 5G smartphone for under a $1000. It comes with all of the features you would expect from a premium tier smartphone with a Snapdragon 855 processor, a big screen-to-body ratio, a hidden front-facing pop-up camera and dual cameras on the rear.

Xiaomi's entry will likely be one of the very few 5G phones available for less than $1000 this year.

Aside from the 5G modem and faster chip, this is the same phone as last year's Mi Mix 3, which you can buy in Australia's from importers for around $750.